News Flicks

On the 98th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Britain should formally apologise for the ruthless slaughter of hundreds of unarmed Indians; & there are precedents too

Komagata Maru

In 2016, Justin Trudeau offered a full apology to India in the House of Commons over the 1914 incident where Komagata Maru, a ship carrying 376 South Asian refugees, most of them Sikhs, was turned away, describing the incident as a “dark chapter” in the nation’s history

The Holocaust

Shoes of victims of the Holocaust

At a 1970 commemoration to victims of the Warsaw ghetto in Poland, former German chancellor Willy Brandt fell to his knees in silence & later wrote in his autobiography, "carrying the burden of the millions who were murdered, I did what people do when words fail them"; Germany has since paid billions of dollars to Israel & Jewish survivors

Apartheid

Two years after Nelson Mandela became president, the last South African leader of the apartheid era, FW de Klerk, officially apologised for the 46 years of white supremacist rule in the country, calling the racist policy "deeply mistaken"

Japanese internment

During WW II (from 1942-45), over 100,000 Japanese-Americans were given 10 days to sell off their homes & businesses, before being sent off to internment camps out of the fear of their involvement; Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act in 1988 & 2 years later, George HW Bush’s administration paid out $20,000 to all surviving internment victims

American slavery

A federal apology for slavery came through in 2009 under Barack Obama’s administration; the resolution apologises to African-Americans for the "injustice, cruelty, brutality, & inhumanity of slavery" & “for the wrongs committed...under slavery & Jim Crow laws"

Aborigines

Broadcast of PM Kevin Rudd's formal apology

Former PM of Australia, Kevin Rudd issued a formal apology to the Aborigines "for the indignity & degradation thus inflicted on a proud people & a proud culture" & for policies that "inflicted profound grief, suffering & loss"; among the offences was a policy that ‘assimilated’ aboriginal children in white families to "breed out the colour"

Bloody Sunday

Former UK prime minister David Cameron made a public announcement in parliament, calling the 1972 massacre of unarmed citizens in Northern Ireland protesting the internment of Irish nationalists "unjustified & unjustifiable"; 14 died & several were injured during the shooting by British soldiers

Japan to South Korea

In 2015, Japan apologised to South Korea & promised to pay $8.3 mn in compensation for its use of Korean “comfort women” forced to work in Japanese brothels during World War II; historians estimate that the Japanese military forced up to 200,000 into prostitution

Sources: TIME.com, BBC.com, Theatlantic.com

Manvi Gautam

On the 98th anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Britain should formally apologise for the ruthless slaughter of hundreds of unarmed Indians; & there are precedents too

Komagata Maru

In 2016, Justin Trudeau offered a full apology to India in the House of Commons over the 1914 incident where Komagata Maru, a ship carrying 376 South Asian refugees, most of them Sikhs, was turned away, describing the incident as a “dark chapter” in the nation’s history

The Holocaust

Shoes of victims of the Holocaust

At a 1970 commemoration to victims of the Warsaw ghetto in Poland, former German chancellor Willy Brandt fell to his knees in silence & later wrote in his autobiography, "carrying the burden of the millions who were murdered, I did what people do when words fail them"; Germany has since paid billions of dollars to Israel & Jewish survivors

Apartheid

Two years after Nelson Mandela became president, the last South African leader of the apartheid era, FW de Klerk, officially apologised for the 46 years of white supremacist rule in the country, calling the racist policy "deeply mistaken"

Japanese internment

During WW II (from 1942-45), over 100,000 Japanese-Americans were given 10 days to sell off their homes & businesses, before being sent off to internment camps out of the fear of their involvement; Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act in 1988 & 2 years later, George HW Bush’s administration paid out $20,000 to all surviving internment victims

American slavery

A federal apology for slavery came through in 2009 under Barack Obama’s administration; the resolution apologises to African-Americans for the "injustice, cruelty, brutality, & inhumanity of slavery" & “for the wrongs committed...under slavery & Jim Crow laws"

Aborigines

Broadcast of PM Kevin Rudd's formal apology

Former PM of Australia, Kevin Rudd issued a formal apology to the Aborigines "for the indignity & degradation thus inflicted on a proud people & a proud culture" & for policies that "inflicted profound grief, suffering & loss"; among the offences was a policy that ‘assimilated’ aboriginal children in white families to "breed out the colour"

Bloody Sunday

Former UK prime minister David Cameron made a public announcement in parliament, calling the 1972 massacre of unarmed citizens in Northern Ireland protesting the internment of Irish nationalists "unjustified & unjustifiable"; 14 died & several were injured during the shooting by British soldiers

Japan to South Korea

In 2015, Japan apologised to South Korea & promised to pay $8.3 mn in compensation for its use of Korean “comfort women” forced to work in Japanese brothels during World War II; historians estimate that the Japanese military forced up to 200,000 into prostitution